Buckle



BUCKLE.

Patented June 4, 1895.

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UNITED STATES `PATENT OEETCE.

FRANK F. HEROLD, OF TIFFIN, OHIO.

BUCKLE.

SLEECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 540,592, dated June 4,189.5. Application filed October 10I 1894. Serial No. 525,490. (Nomodel.)

To all whom, t may concern.-

Beit known that I, FRANK F. HEROLD, a citizen of the vUnited States,residing at Tiffin, in the county of Seneca and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Buckles; and l doherebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to Awhi'ch itappertains to make and use thesame.

My invention relates to improvements in harness attachments adapted fora variety ot purposes in a set of harness, such as a rein'or line holderto prevent the strap from passing through the terret or for falling anddropping down alongside of the horse, the hip straps, or the shafts, orto forma loop to serve as a hand hold on the line or rein.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and inexpensivecontrivance which can be readily appliedto a strap without detaching itfrom the harness or vehicle or slipping the deviceover the endv of thestrap, and to so construct the device that it will bite or hold firmlyon the strap.

WVith these ends in View, the invention consists in the construction andarrangement of parts forming myimproved buckle, which will behereinafter fully described and claimed.

To enable others to understand my invention,I have illustrated thepreferred embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawings, forming apart of thisspecication, and in which- Figure 1 is a view illustrating aset of harness with my improvement applied to some of the strapsthereof. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of the attachment orbuckle. Fig. 3 is a sectional view illustrating the application of thebuckle to a straight line or strap. Fig. 4 is a similar view showing thebuckle applied to a loop or doubled strap to form a hand-hold for adriving-rein. Fig. 5k is alike View showing the application of thebuckle to two straps for the purpose of repairing or joining themtogether. Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing the method of applyingthe buckle to a strap withoutdetaching the latter.

Like letters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the iiguresof the drawlngs.

Myattachment consistsofabuckleframe A, a tongue bar B arrangedtransversely across the buckle frame and the strap to which the deviceis to be applied, and a retainer-bar O vprojecting beyond one end of thebuckle frame and deiected or`carried to one side of the plane of saidbuckle-frame. The buckle frame and the retainer are cast in a singlepiece of metal.

The frame A and tongue B of my attachmentare distinguished from thccommon type of buckles in that the frame is not formed or provided witha bar, lug, or stud on which to hang or pivot the tongue, so that theframe is an open one, and in that the tongue bar is arrangedtransversely across the frame, at right angles to the longitudinal axisof the strap to which the attachment is applied, in contradistinction toa buckle in which the tongue is hung on a bar of the buckle frame to eX-tend longitudinally of the frame and pass through an aperture in thestrap to hold the strap and buckle together.

The buckle frame A of my attachment is made substantially square inform, although it may be rectangular or of any other shape desired, andone of its side bars, a, is formed with a rounded pintle portion abetween the lugs or ears a while the other side bar a3 is provided witha seat 01,4 formed Aby a'cavity or depression in the bar o.s at a pointdirectly opposite to the pintle portion a.

The tongue bar B has one of its ends bent or looped around the pintleportion a so as to be pivotally connected to the buckle frame and isheld or confined against sidewise play by the lugs or ears a. tends,when the attachment is in use, across the open frame, from one sidebardto the other side bar 0.3, and the free end of the longitudinal bar isadapted to tit or rest in the seat d4 in said bar a3. The tongue bar canbe turned on or thrown back on the bar d so as to eX- pose the'openingin the frame A bounded by and formed between the side and end bars ofthe frame, in which position of the tongue bar a looped portion of astrap can be thrust into the buckle-frame, after which the tongue bar isreturned to its normal position to rest in the seat a4, and the strapthen drawn out straight, in which position the strap passes This tonguebar ex- ICO over the tongue bar and beneath the two end bars of theframe, as clearly shown by Fig. 3 of the drawings.

The retainer extension C is curved outward away from the buckle frameand then recurved or bent over as shown more clearly in Fig. 2. Thepurpose of this retainer is to prevent the line or rein from beingpulled, bythe movement ot' the horses head, through the terret ring, orwhen the attachment is applied to a hip strap, this retainer standsupward and away from the same so that it will catch the rein or line andprevent it from dropping down alongside of the shaft, whereby the reinsare held up and prevented from being entangled with the horses feet.

The attachment may be applied to the rein, as at G, to prevent it frombeing drawn through the terret ring, or it may be applied to the hipstrap of the harness as at l-I, in which last named position theretainer C stands upward and away from the hip strap so as to catch therein when it becomes SlaQk and drops down toward the shaft.

To apply the attachment to a strap, it is not necessary to detach itfrom any part of the harness or vehicle or to slip the device over theend of the strap, but the attachment is applied by turning the tonguebar B to one side of the frame A, then doubling or folding the strapupon itself, and thrusting the doubled part of the strap through theframe. Then the tongue bar is lowered, and the strap is drawn out sothat it passes over the tongue bar and beneath the end bars of the frameA. The strap bearsor bites against the edges of the tongue bar, andagainst the lower edges of the two end bars of the frame A, whereby theattachment holds itself in place on the strap without puncturing thelatter and without fitting the tongue in the puuctures or holds of thestrap.

My attachment may also be used to form the hand hold in a driving lineor rein. In

this adaptation of the eontrivance, the end of the strap is doubled orfolded upon itself to form the loop or hand hold I, and the attachmentis adjusted in the manner described over the lapped portions of the reinat a suitable distance from the looped end I thereof.

My device may also be used in cases of emergency or under generalconditions to repair broken straps, or to connect the meeting ends oftwo straps together, or to connect the two ends of the same straptogether. The two ends of the strap or straps are passed through thebuckle frame, over the tongue bar, and below the end bars of said frame,and the connection is so firm and secure that, under ordinaryconditions, the ends of the strap or straps cannot be drawn out of theframe.

I do not limit myself to any particular use ofthe attachment, nor to theprecise form and details of the parts herein shown and described as anembodiment of my invention, as I am aware that a skilled mechanic canchange the device in minor ways without departing from the spirit orsacrificing the advantages of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

As a new article ot manufacture, a harness attachment comprising an openframe A having one of its side bars provided with the lugs a onfoppositesides of the pintle thereof and its other side bar formed with adepression 0.4, producing a seat in line with the pintle across theframe, the tongue-bar B hung on the pntle, between the lugs 0.2, andhaving its free end adapted to the depressed seat, and a retainer arm Cwhich is integral with one bar of the frame A and is projected in curvedlines beyond the frame and to one side of the plane of the bars formingsaid frame, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I atiix my signature p in presence of twowitnesses.

y FRANK F. IIEROLD. Witnesses:

JOSEPH SMITH,

JOHN BARTELL.

